Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Hired by a young man to find out why his fiancee ran away roadie / PI Lenny Parker finds her quickly and sees her drive away with a big black man who turns out to be a pimp called Larry Thunder. For earlier episodes click here.

FOUR

Lenny was just in time for
practice. The Necromantic Poets jam in their vocalist’s , Mikey Taylor garage.
Mike is a good looking guy with long brown hair.

“You cut that one close,” Mikey
said. “We were all looking forward to hearing about your life on the road. It’s
been awhile.”

“Yeah, but first let’s jam. I’ve
been aching to put up my riffs against Lenny’s bass lickfs long enough,” a wiry
guy with a Mohawk said. That’s what the band called him too, Mohawk. Nobody
knew his name but Lenny figured it had to be something embarrassing like
Theodore or Harold.

“Yeah, let’s rock,” a girl with a
lot of tattoos and pink hair said. She was sitting behind the drums. She was
called Casey. Last time Lenny saw her she was dating a stripper and her hair
was blue. Next week he knew she might as well be dating a waitress and her hair
might be green.

Lenny unpacked his bass. “Fine
with me. Time to make some noise. What will we start out with? Zero Tolerance?
I love the intro to that one.”

Casey hit the drums with a quick
solo. “Go for it!”

Lenny served up a low throbbing
bass that Mohawk followed up with a down tuned riff. Mikey screamed, “Zero
Tolerance!” Then they were off.

They played a mixture of death
metal and thrash that they liked but didn’t seem to find a big audience.
Perhaps because Casey had a habit of getting so pissed off at the mistakes
Lenny made she sometimes walked off during a gig. Or the fact Mohawk showed up
drunk for a lot of them. Or didn’t show up at all.

They played two more songs before
they decided they needed a break. And a beer. They got some bottles of Corona
from the fridge which they drank with a rockstar’s gusto.

“So, how was life on the road?” Mikey
asked Lenny.

“What’s to tell… Long drives,
hard work schlepping around stuff. Managed to ace the opening riff to Iron Man while sound checking which the
audience loved,” Lenny said.

“Did you manage to party some
with the band?” Mohawks asked.

“Yeah, two nights. Had fun with
those guys. I did a few shots too many though. Almost barfed over the lead
singer.”

“That’s a pretty good way to get
yourself fired,” Mohawks chuckled.

“Luckily I just managed to get
the champagne bucket. After that I went to the hotel right away. Shit, makes me
wonder what happened to the bucket. Hope they got wise and…”

“Just stop it,” Casey said,
shutting my mouth with two fingers. “Maybe you should tell me a bit more about
your side job instead. Any new interesting cases?”

“There is a confidentiality thing
attached to the gig,” Lenny said.

Casey handed Lenny a new beer and
said, “You know we can keep a secret.”

“I guess. And I wouldn’t mind
getting this one off my chest.” Lenny gave them the short version of his latest
adventure.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Hired by a young man to find out why his fiancee ran away roadie / PI Lenny Parker finds her quickly and sees her drive away with a big black man. For earlier episodes click here.

THREE

Lenny
gave the daughter of his old mentor a call. They called her Baby Jackson,
because they called her father Old Man Jackson when he was still alive and
heading up their PI agency. They didn’t call her that because she was such a
sweet and innocent girl.

“What the fuck, Parker? Who the
fuck do you think I am? Your personal assistant? If you’re too damned cheap to
pay for the databases we own maybe you should quit PI work.”

“I kind of need the money to pay
for my bass guitar and shit. And gas ain’t cheap, you know?”

“Maybe you should sell those
guitars. And drive a cheaper car than that gas-guzzling monster you own now.”

“You sound like my mom. If she cursed
every two words,” Lenny said. “Give me a break, for old time’s sake. And look
at it this ways if you help me do this case it might lead to more cases and
after some time I might make enough dough to indeed own those databases
myself.”

“That’ll be the day. Well, I ran
the plate when we were having our little conversation and I think I have some
advice for you… Stay away from the owner of that plate.”

“You sure know how to get a guy’s
interest. Tell me more.”

“That car belongs to one Lawrence
Thaddeus Walker. But people on the street call him Larry Thunder. He’s the
biggest pimp of San Diego and has done some time for beating a man into the
hospital with the lid of a garbage can. They fucked up his trial in some way,
unfortunately so this piece of trash is still on the streets. He’s been known
to beat his girls into submission violently.”

“Sounds like a sweetheart indeed.
He doesn’t look that tough, though. I’ve faced some tougher customers in seedy
bars while on tour.”

“Fuck that bravado, Parker!
You’re a drinker, not a fighter. I’ll admit you probably gained some strength
from hauling around those huge-ass speakers and shit but that doesn’t mean you
can fight. And besides, Larry Thunders is known to carry a gun. You don’t even
own one.”

“Those things are too loud. Don’t
want to damage my ears. I need them to play my axe.”

“Another reason to avoid this
guy. He’ll break your fucking fingers just for kicks and you won’t play that
bass ever again.”

“Didn’t know you cared. But I’m
afraid that’s a negative. Isn’t it in the PI code that you never quit on a
client?”

“Just don’t say I didn’t warn
you.”

“I won’t. What’s his address?”

She gave it to him. “That’s the last
favor I’m doing you for now.”

“Sure, sure. Thanks! If you want
I can get you tickets to my next show.”

“You know I hate that fucking
noise you play.”

Lenny knew. She was into jazz and
blues like a PI should be according to fiction. Too bad for her. He thought The
Necromantic Poets were killing it the last few months. That reminded him he was
going to be late for band practice if he didn’t hurry up.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Shea Stevens is absolutely one of the more original crime fiction heroes to come along since Lisbeth Salander. Ex-con, lesbian bike mechanic Shea gets involved with a kidnapping of her niece when some bikes she crafted for her rockstar clients get stolen.
She learned some badass skills from her biker gang dad that come in really handy as she clashes with cops, biker gangs and other enemies.
The tone of this book is very dark and violent as are most of the characters. There are some positive things in Shea's live, like her girlfriend and some friends from work that make this story just a bit easier to digest.
The prose isn't special but does its job. The story itself folds out nicely, but isn't too exciting or surprising. It has a very punk/metal feel to me which I enjoyed.
The best thing this book has going for it is unique and tough Shea Stevens and I will be happy to see her return.

LATEST WORK AVAILABLE

About Me

I am a dutch writer, writing often in english. My special interests are crime movies and novels, rock music (I am a rock reporter for a dutch site) and comic books.
You can write me at jvdsteen@hotmail.com